Sports

Four area riders are excited to be saddling up and heading off to the Caledon Equestrian Park at Palgrave, Ontario this week where they will compete from Thursday, September 8 to Sunday, September 11 in the Trillium Championships.

The four, Rayanna Marcellus (Pigeon Island Road resident), Courtney Casselman (Morrisburg), Julie Julien (Cornwall) and Josee Marleau Vallieres (Cornwall) all ride out of the fledgling Sarabeau Stable owned and operated by Sandy Marcellus.

With her stable having less than one year under its belt, Marcellus says that she and trainer Cheryl Levere are thrilled to have four of their riders qualify for the Ontario Championship.

Courtney Casselman, who is heading into Grade 8 at Seaway, is experiencing her first year of riding competitively. She will compete with Piccolini (Picco) in the large pony division.

Rayanna Marcellus, now in her third year of competitive riding, will ride Short Notice in the Small Pony category, Sweet Cherry Wine in Medium and Picco in B Equitation.

Sweet Cherry Wine and Picco are both owned by Sarabeau Stable.

The more experienced rider of the quartet, Julie Julien is from Cornwall and has been riding since she was four years old. This is Julie’s second trip to the championships, the first riding her own horse Palakari. She is riding in the Adult Amateur category.

Seventeen-year-old Josee of Cornwall has been riding competitively for seven years and she will ride Sentimental Journey (barn name Coco) for the championship.

Although Sandy’s daughter Rayanna started in the sport in the Quebec circuit, they switched to the Ontario when they established Sarabeau Stable.

“It’s a bigger circuit and covers all of Ontario which is divided into seven zones,” says Marcellus. “The seven top riders from each of the seven zones will compete in each of the divisions in the championship.”

“In the Quebec Zone, only the top four qualifying horses go to the championship.”

Riders qualify for the championships by accumulating points in zone shows. Sarabeau Stables could have rode in either the Ottawa Zone or the Eastern Zone, but chose the Eastern zone which had fewer shows.

The fewer shows kept the costs down, and also freed up more weekends for other Sarabeau riders to compete at local fairs.

Courtney finished second overall in the Eastern Zone with Picco in Large Hunter to qualify while Raynanna was second overall on Sweet Cherry Wine in Small Pony and sixth with Short Notice in Medium pony. She was first on Picco in B Equitation over fences and 5th in B Equitation on flat.

Julie on Palakari was sixth in Adult Amateur Hunter, third in Adult Equitation over field and sixth in Adult Equitation on Flat.

Josee and Coco were fourth in Children’s hunter, second in A Equitation over Fences and fourth in A Equitation Flat.

A is riders 16-18 years, B is 13-16 years and C is up to 12 years. In Equitation, the rider, rather than the horse is being judged.

“For our first year of being open, having four riders go to the championship is really good,” said Marcellus. “There are a lot of barns out there.”

“We have 10-15 riders out every week which is a good number for a first year stable,” says trainer Cheryl Levere. “Every year you generally grow and expand but you don’t want to get really big as you lose the fun.”

“And we are trying to keep it fun and enjoyable. We want our riders to understand what the horses are all about. It’s not just about competition.”

“I am here most weeks, seven days a week and the show kids are here probably five or six days a week.”

“To compete it takes work,” says Levere. “They are out here riding to improve everyday.”

Levere explains that “we want the riders to help with the chores. It’s just not to get on a horse, ride it and then go away.”

Each visit includes about 30 minutes on the horse and 60-90 minutes to care for the horse (brush, tack etc.)

Not only do the kids learn to ride, but they learn responsibility and benefit from the exercise. “You use every muscle in your body when riding.”

Levere expects that the four Sarabeau riders and their horses should do well this weekend.

Picco in his second year of competitive riding, “has improved over the last year. He’s learned how to relax, and how to take care of somebody.”

“This is Sweet Cherry Wine’s first year showing a full curcuit, and she’s holding her own.

Coco is in her first competitive year and PalaKari is coming off an injury.”

In addition to the success of the four competitive riders, Marcellus is pleased with how well “our Fair Team has done” in Williamstown and Avonmore.

The fair team includes Jeana Lamothe, 13, of Ingleside, Steph Quosdorf, 16, of Cornwall, Troy Webb, 14, of Ingleside and Bryanna.

“It’s all gone well,” says Marcellus of her longtime dream to own a riding stable. “I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids and the horses and ponies here are all so quiet.”

“Last fall we started out that we were going to establish a horse/pony club, and here we are.”

Our barn slogan is Dream, Believe, Achieve.

Sarabeau Stable will to run clinics throughout the year and will accept new riders at any time.

“It would be nice to have 30 riders, but you have to start somewhere,” says Marcellus.

For more information call Sandy at  613-543-4561.

[…]

Hurricane Irene was the big winner at the annual Men's Valley League hosted by the Summer Heights Golf Links here on Sunday.

Play was halted when the rain became too much, and this year's Valley League championship was decided using nine hole rounds.

At the end of nine holes, it was the hosting Summer Heights team that claimed the D. MacLennan Championship trophy with 641 strokes.

Cedar Glen was second with 649 and Morrisburg third with 660. Iroquois posted 680 strokes and Sandy Row had 723.

The Morrisburg team won the tournament on its home turf in 2010.

Successfully defending his title was Cedar Glen golfer Kurtis Barkley who claimed the Millard Trophy for low gross in A flight with a 37. Barkley won the trophy in Morrisburg last year.

The B flight win and the Sports Unlimited Trophy was went to Morrisburg's Kirk Barkley, while Frank Miller of Summer Heights successfully defended his 2010 low gross C flight win with a 47. The win allowed Miller to hang onto the S.H. Fun Night Trophy for another year.

Stepping to the front of the senior category was Morrisburg's Bob Mann who claimed the T. Parker Trophy with a 42 (retro tie-breaker).

The low gross 'junior' Highlands trophy was won by Bradley MacKay of Summer Heights with a 43.

Mike Deschamps of Morrisburg won the A net Julien Trophy, and Darrell Shelp picked up the B net Cedar Glen Trophy. The C net Lorne Barkley Memorial Trophy went to Rob Robinson of Cedar Glen.

The team low net Comrie-Blakely Trophy was won by Morrisburg.

Terry Barkley of Cedar Glen won the Russ Fader Net Trophy in the president's position and Rick Cauvier of Sandy Row picked up the Hugh Hutchinson Memorial Trophy for low net among the club captains.

[…]

The North Dundas Rockets will be the new kids on the ice when the hockey season resumes this fall.

Coached by Dale Murdoch of Morewood, the new Junior C franchise will be a member of the eight team National Capital Junior Hockey League.

Junior C hockey is not a stranger to the Chesterville area, says Murdoch. “In the early 80s there was a team in Chesterville,” he explained.

“It’s a couple of those players who are involved in the current startup.”

Murdoch says that he and the owners have recognized a need for Junior C hockey in this area.

“We have several Junior B teams surrounding us, but more and more they are using non-local players because of the competitiveness of the Junior B league. There is a need here for local minor hockey players to be able to progress into competitive hockey beyond minor hockey.”

“Many kids end up not playing hockey at all after minor hockey. There isn’t even any juvenile hockey anymore.”

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Murdoch is the Rockets’ General Manager.

His first steps have been to line up his coaching staff and joining him behind the bench is Brian Downey of Morewood and Nick Pass of Winchester. Both played Junior A hockey after starting out locally at the Junior B level. Downey also experienced university hockey in the United States and played at the pro level in the former Colonial Hockey League.

The Rockets will play their home games on Sundays in Chesterville. They will play a 32 game schedule against teams from Vankleek Hill, St. Isidore, Cumberland, Embrun, Papineauville, Gatineau and Rockland.

“Our intention is to bus to games on the Quebec side of the league,” says Murdoch of the fairly hefty road trips.

The first home game for the Rockets is scheduled for October 2. As ice will not be ready in Chesterville for a number of weeks, the Rockets training camp will open at the Winchester Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 10. A second session has been set for Sunday, September 11 at 8 p.m.

Murdoch explains that the National Capital Junior Hockey League teams are able to protect only those players in their own minor hockey system.

“So we can protect North Dundas Minor Hockey. Embrun protects Embrun Minor Hockey players. Anyone who plays minor hockey in say, South Dundas or Kemptville, are basically free agents.”

Murdoch also explains, that while each team does have one 16 year old card, teams in the league do not use 16 year olds. “We are looking for 17 years olds and above. We are really looking for kids who have graduated from minor hockey. We really aren’t interested in taking players (17 year old midgets) from the local minor hockey systems.”

While walk-ons are welcome to the upcoming Rockets camp in Winchester, Murdoch says, as a time saving measure, he would like everyone to pre-register.

For more information or to register, he can be reached at 613-913-8266 or e-mail dalemurdoch@yahoo.ca.

[…]

Led by a three over par 73 shot by Brandon St. Louis here last Wednesday, the 2011 Junior Valley League championship was claimed by the Morrisburg team, with 22 strokes to spare over the defending champs from Summer Heights.

St. Louis posted a big performance for the Morrisburg entry. He kicked it off with a one under par 34 on the front nine which was highlighted by an eagle on the par five sixth hole.

On the back he was coasting along and was even par after five holes when he ran into a string of bogies that pushed him to the four over par 39 finish and the 73.

For his efforts, St. Louis was awarded the Founding Father’s Trophy for low gross in the A flight category (age 14 and up).

St. Louis’ effort capped a big effort from the entire Morrisburg team which counted 516 strokes from its six member team.

Summer Heights was second with 538 and Cedar Glen placed third with 564.

For the first time since the founding of the Junior Valley League 20 plus years ago, the Iroquois Golf Club did not field a team.

Adding to the Morrisburg A flight winning total were Andrew Morrisburg who carded an 86 and Jordan St. Louis who shot an 89.

In B flight (13 years and under), Randy Keller led the locals with an 84. Colin Minish posted a 90 and Drew Minish a 94.

Keller and Colin Minish ended up tied for low net of the flight with 61s and Minish got the nod for the Beaupre Jewellers Trophy with the tie broken using retrogression.

The overall low gross in B flight, for the second consecutive year, was won by Summer Height’s Ty Celone. Twelve-year- old Celone posted a front nine 40 and added a 38 to win the Morrisburg Golf Club Trophy.

Shawn Crook of Cedar Glen won the Summer Heights Fun Night Trophy for low net in A flight for the second straight year.

Crook shot an 86 for a low net 71 for the win.

Also a member of the Morrisburg team was Aaron Smith who played in the spare position. Although his score did not count towards the team total, Smith shot a 95.

Low shooters for the Cedar Glen team were Jack Van Kessel with an 87 in B flight and Shawn Crook with an 86 in A.

No girls competed in this year’s Junior Valley League.

[…]